`Corruption is
Everywhere’
Charges of corruption, among others, resulted in the ouster of then
President Joseph Ejercito Estrada on Jan. 20, 2001 in a people’s uprising
popularly known as EDSA Dos. Immediately after being sworn in as Estrada’s
successor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo promised to lead by example and to be
Estrada’s exact opposite. Four years later, corruption remains a major
social concern.
BY
ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
What do cellular phones and corrupt
practices have in common? Both have become ubiquitous and part of the
Filipino psyche.
The prevalence of corruption has come to a
point where selected government positions are seen as quick tickets to
immeasurable fortune. For example, employment at the Bureau of Customs (BoC)
and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is perceived as an
opportunity not to serve the people but to amass wealth.
Such public
impressions are based not only on occasional news about government
anomalies but also several studies that have identified various government
agencies as havens of corruption. The latter, however, is not just
confined to the public sector but is also evident in the private sector.
The prevalence of
corruption in the country was highlighted at the National Study Conference
on Corruption (NSSC) last January 14 and 15 at the University of the
Philippines College of Social Work and Community Development (UP CSWCD).
That corruption is
everywhere has been proven by the plenary and workshop papers that
analyzed corruption in various spheres of public and private life.
One of the speakers,
IBON Foundation Research Director Antonio Tujan, said “The prevalence of
corruption...implies that corruption is not simply an individual act but
is a phenomenon that is systemic...and defined by particular social
relations in the realm of ethics and culture, politics and economy in each
society as well.”
Military corruption
Former Army Capt.
Rene Jarque, on the other hand, stressed that corruption is pervasive in
the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). He said that the AFP has its
share of “normal” corrupt practices like commissions, kickbacks,
overpricing, padding, substitution, rigged biddings, under-delivery and
ghost delivery.
The AFP, however, is
said to have a more sophisticated form of corruption called “conversion”
or the process of converting the budget for military supplies into its
cash equivalent by circumventing government accounting and auditing rules
through fraudulent documentation.
Aside from
government, corruption in media also happens. National Union of
Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) Chairperson Inday Espina-Varona said
that the conventional definition of media corruption is manipulation of
news for personal or corporate interests. According to her, corruption in
media is an open secret. “Sadly, in the last two years, as killings of
journalists steadily rose in this country, media corruption has even been
touted as an excuse for the heinous crime of murder,” she said.
For their part, a
study of Luis Teodoro, Danilo Arao and Evelyn Katigbak on the media’s
coverage of corruption showed the weakness of selected print and TV media
agencies in analyzing the roots of corruption. According to them, “this
necessarily requires looking closely at the workings of government,
understanding it, and conveying that understanding to readers, viewers and
listeners as a living expression of the necessarily adversarial and
watchdog functions of the mass media in the Philippine setting.”
In the wake of
pervasiveness of corruption, Tujan pushed for “people’s governance” as the
antidote to corruption, a governance which he described as one that would
“take the issue of equity as a preeminent concern, ensuring positive
action or even a preeminent role for the poor, marginalized toiling masses
and develop democratic governance from the perspective of the poor and
marginalized.”
The NSSC was jointly
organized by the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG),
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN or New Patriotic Alliance) and IBON
Foundation. Participating organizations were Plunder Watch, Patriots,
Confederation for the Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government
Employees (COURAGE), Concerned Artists of the Philippines (CAP), Action
Against Corruption and Tyranny Now (ACT Now!), Muntinlupa Alliance Against
Corruption (MAAC), Citizens Coalition for Good Governance (CCGG), Labor
Network Against Corruption and Tyranny (LANCET), Citizens’ National
Network Against Poverty and Corruption (CNNAPAC), National Union of
Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), Kairos Philippines, Center for
Communication Matters (CCM) and Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC).
Bulatlat
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